U.S. approves $950M of RQ-4 aircraft support services for South Korea

The U.S. Department of State has approved a potential a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Republic of Korea of Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) for RQ-4 Block 30 remotely piloted aircraft for an estimated cost of $950 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on 30 July.

The approved sale must now be authorized by Congress before being finalized.

“This proposed sale will enable the Republic of Korea to sustain and operate its fleet of RQ-4 Block 30 remotely piloted aircraft and will significantly advance U.S. interests in standardization with the Republic of Korea’s Armed Forces. ”, said the agency, adding that ”the potential sale will further strengthen the interoperability between the United States and the Republic of Korea and ensures the Alliance has a robust intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability on the Korean peninsula.”

The principal contractor will be Northrop Grumman Corporation located in Palmdale, CA. There are no known offset agreements proposed in conjunction with this potential sale.

The U.S. Air Force’s website said the RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft with an integrated sensor suite that provides global all-weather, day or night intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. Global Hawk’s mission is to provide a broad spectrum of ISR collection capability to support joint combatant forces in worldwide peacetime, contingency and wartime operations. The Global Hawk provides persistent near-real-time coverage using imagery intelligence (IMINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT) and moving target indicator (MTI) sensors.

Block 30 is a multi-intelligence platform that simultaneously carries electro-optical, infrared, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and high and low band SIGINT sensors. Block 30 Initial Operating Capability (IOC) was declared in August 2011.

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